Frequently, software configuration files are not protected by system software, but when protected, such protection is accomplished by conventional means. While conventional file protection systems are suitable for protecting static configuration files from unauthorized modification during a computing session, such systems are ineffective in protecting dynamic configuration files that are likely to be modified during a computing session.
More specifically, conventional file protection systems are configured to respond to unauthorized modification of software configuration files by simply replacing the modified file with an original version of that file. Hence, this replacement technique clearly is problematic for software configuration files that dynamically change during a computing session since these configuration files will likely differ significantly from their originally stored state.